The Hardest Part

Allison Moorer's "The Hardest Part" is the real thing. Following up on her critically acclaimed (but largely publically ignored)"Alabama Song" Moorer has put together a collection of songs that tell the story of true love. You won't find the country mainstream theme of "I love you, you love me, we'll live happily ever after" but rather the ins and outs of real live true love. She is very convincing as she dares her ex to say he's sorry just once more in "No Next Time" and in the title track where the line between living and leaving is beautifully blurred. But it's the hidden track where we see Moorer truly reveal her heart as she tells of her parent's tragic relationship.

Shania and Faith fans should pass on this one. But if you're hungry for some real country music from a real country diva then you'll really enjoy this new album by Allison Moorer. The hardest part about "The Hardest Part" is turning off the cotton picking CD...Read more

"Life is Hard When Love is So Unkind." Those lyrics are the mantra of Allison Moorer's album "The Hardest Part." Moorer is a country music traditionlist as reflected by her songs. She has a strong, throaty voice, reminiscent of the finest blues belters. And her songs are not the happy Nashville fluff of such lightweights as Faith Hill and Shania Twain. Moorer sounds like she's been down that long lonely road of heartbreak and pain. The best songs are the opening title track, "Day You Said Goodbye," "No Next Time" and the hidden closing track, a bleak murder-suicide story that is as harrowing as anything I've ever heard. For fans of genuine country music, Moorer is the real deal.

I first discovered Allison Moorer on a sampler of the "Now That's What I Call the 40 Greatest Country Hits In The World Ever" type. She was singing "A Soft Place To Fall", sadly remembered by most people only as 'that song from The Horse Whisperer', but actually one of the finest American songs of the decade. However great the song, it was the voice that snared me. She has the flawless control and faithfulness to meaning of a classical lieder singer, coupled with the heartfelt sincerity of a singer-songwriter, the raw tenderness that belongs to the best of country & western, and the sensuality of a soul diva.

Allison's great blessing is that she sings in a quite limited contralto range that has never tempted her to pointless histrionics - none of the shrieking or swooping or yodelling that make some singers so exhausting to listen to. She doesn't need these gimmicks. She writes (or co-writes) fantastic memorable tunes with meaningful lyrics, and in...Read more